Campbell County senior lineman Keenan Evans joins nearly 100 of the state’s top high school senior football players that have been chosen to play in the 4th annual Toyota Tennessee East vs. West All-Star Classic on Dec. 11 at Carson Newman College in Jefferson City.
Kickoff will be at 12:30 p.m. The Toyota East vs. West All-Star Classic is the only all-star game in Tennessee to be televised live statewide.
This year’s list of players includes a trio of Duke commitments, half a dozen players committed to sign with Southeastern Conference schools and a number of other Division I schools including Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Syracuse. Nearly a dozen players who were finalists for Mr. Football Awards have agreed to play in the game.
“We’re very excited about the list of players who have committed to play in this year’s game,” said Bill Marbet, executive director of the Tennessee Athletic Coaches Association, the sponsoring organization.
“Coaches and players alike all across the state consider this to be the premier game of its kind in Tennessee, and we’re extremely proud to have such an outstanding list of players who have accepted an invitation to play in our game.”
Besides the early commitments and Mr. Football finalists, several other outstanding players have agreed to play in the prestigious game. Anderson County quarterback Tanner Williams, who has virtually rewritten the state record books for passing yardage, and C.A.K.’s Quinn Epperly will battle for signal caller duties on the East team. Williams had a banner senior campaign with more than 3,700 yards through the air for the Mavericks. Epperly threw for 2,324 yards as a senior.
Sharing quarterback duties on the West team will be Danny Potter of Brighton (2,782 yards), Jake Overby of U.S.J. (2,103 yards) and Tyler Rice of Wayne County.
Players will report to Carson Newman on Tuesday, Dec. 7. Highlights of the week will include a trip to the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, where players and coaches will bring early Christmas presents to the young patients, and an evening in Gatlinburg where players will be treated to free admission at various attractions including Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, Ripley’s Haunted Adventure and Dixie Stampede.
Television stations scheduled to broadcast the game include WUXP-30 in Nashville, WVLT-8 in Knoxville, WFLI-53 in Chattanooga and WAPK-36 in Tri-Cities, plus Comcast cable in Memphis and Jackson Energy Cable in Jackson. WMNL 990 AM in Knoxville will be the flagship station for the radio broadcast.
The following is a full list of all 87 players, including alternates, selected to play in this year’s game: